Note
Authors affiliated with: Centre for Forensic Research, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University (Burnaby).
Résumé
"Body decomposition in an aquatic environment is not well understood. Human bodies are frequently recovered from the ocean, usually eventually washed ashore. However, it is extremely difficult to determine the elapsed time since submergence or death as so little is known of decompositional parameters in the ocean. Animal, primarily insect, colonization of a body is a valuable method to estimate elapsed time since death in bodies on land. This research was conducted in collaboration with the Victoria Experimental Network Under The Sea (VENUS) to follow decomposition and animal scavenging on a carcass to help to explain artifacts and decomposition of a body submerged in deep water off British Columbia. A remotely operated submersible was used to position a pig carcass under a remotely controlled video and still digital camera in order to observe the impact of submergence. The carcass was observed several times a day until it was no longer in range of the camera."--Executive summary.